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ABC News/Washington Post Poll, January 2001 (ICPSR 3193)

Principal Investigator(s):ABC News; The Washington Post

Summary:

This poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys
that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other
political and social issues. It was fielded January 11-15, 2001, just
prior to the end of the Bill Clinton presidency. Respondents were
asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton and his
handling of the economy, foreign affairs, race relations, the welfare
system, crime, and the health care system. A series of questions
focused on Clinton and his pr... (more info)

This poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys
that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other
political and social issues. It was fielded January 11-15, 2001, just
prior to the end of the Bill Clinton presidency. Respondents were
asked to give their opinions of President Bill Clinton and his
handling of the economy, foreign affairs, race relations, the welfare
system, crime, and the health care system. A series of questions
focused on Clinton and his presidency, including whether Clinton was
honest and trustworthy, possessed high personal moral and ethical
standards, understood the problems of the American people, had kept
the economy strong, had been a strong leader, how he would go down in
history, whether the House of Representatives was right to impeach
him, and whether he should be charged with a crime for giving false
testimony in 1999 regarding his relationship with White House intern
Monica Lewinsky. Respondents were asked which of the following issues
should be given the highest priority by incoming president George
W. Bush and Congress: maintaining a strong economy, protecting the
Social Security system, holding down the costs of health care/health
insurance, keeping the federal budget balanced, reducing the use of
illegal drugs, reforming campaign finance laws, reducing political
partisanship in Washington, DC, raising pay and benefits for military
personnel, improving opportunities for women and minorities, cutting
taxes, improving education, expanding health care coverage, helping
the elderly pay for prescription drugs, protecting the environment,
upgrading military systems and equipment, banning partial-birth
abortions, establishing uniform standards for presidential elections,
and improving race relations. A series of questions focused on the
incoming Bush administration. Respondent views were sought on Bush's
nomination of John Ashcroft for attorney general, Bush's nomination of
Gale Norton for secretary of the interior, whether Bush was
legitimately elected as president, whether Bush had a mandate to carry
out his campaign promises, what type of president Bush would be, and
Bush's handling of the presidential transition. Those queried were
also asked whether they thought Bush would work for or against the
following interest groups: labor unions, large corporations, the poor,
the wealthy, the middle class, women's rights groups, the military,
environmental groups, religious conservatives, Blacks or
African-Americans, Hispanics, other racial and ethnic minorities, and
white males. A series of questions on the economy covered whether the
economy was headed toward a recession, respondent stock investments,
whether stock investments were safe, whether the market would go up or
down next year, whether changes in the stock market personally
affected the respondent, and what type of tax cut they would
prefer. Additional topics covered respondent views on homosexuals
serving in the military, gun control laws, abortion, school voucher
programs, the construction of a missile defense system, drilling for
oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, energy
conservation vs. finding new energy sources, preferential treatment of
minorities and women, tobacco companies, and mad cow
disease. Background information on respondents includes age, gender,
political party, political orientation, voter participation history,
education, race, Hispanic origin, labor union membership, household
income, and whether the respondent ate beef.

(1) The data are provided as an SPSS portable file.
(2) This collection has not been processed by ICPSR staff. ICPSR is
distributing the data and documentation for this collection in
essentially the same form in which they were received. When
appropriate, documentation has been converted to Portable Document
Format (PDF), data files have been converted to non-platform-specific
formats, and variables have been recoded to ensure respondents'
anonymity. (3) The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable
Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe
Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software,
such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy
of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.